Showing posts with label La Fleur du Mal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label La Fleur du Mal. Show all posts

Monday, July 27, 2009

French Connection & Conundrum: Mélanie Doutey, Yohanna en français; Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir

Sur ce blog, je vous parlerais
simplement de ce que j'aime,
et ce que je n'aime pas.
Among other things, j'aime
actrice Mélanie Doutey!

Latest French film sensation: Mélanie Doutey


She's so adorable et charmant in her
films, that it's almost as if she's channeling
Sophie Marceau's kid sister, whom you
recall as a bit of a pesky and tomboyish
pre-teen.
Now, years later, you see her again and
her self-evident talent, smarts, good looks
-and sense of humor- just knock you off
your feet!
And you are smitten!

I first became aware of her enormous talent
a few years ago after seeing Claude Chabrol's
La Fleur du Mal, and she just knocked
me out cold.

It was one of the very last films that I saw
in the D.C. area in 2003 before leaving to
come back here, and rather obviously,
given the foreign language theater situation
down here, the last French film I saw
in a theater avec le popcorn.




to keep up with what this busy actress
is doing.
It's a really fabulous site that clearly
spends a lot more time and effort than
99% of the film websites you'll come
across.
And it's well-designed with lots of good
current photos and videos.

As a bonus here, to the woman who
emailed me Thursday, asking if I knew
of a good version of Yohanna's song
Is it True en français.
Oui, s'appelle
Si tu Sais.

Like most people in Iceland
-only one of the world's MOST
literate places, after all, unlike,
well, here- Yohanna's
multi-lingual
and has released at least a
half-dozen
versions of the song in
different languages.

As some of you may or may not already
know, many kids in Iceland actually learn
Danish while they're in school, and as it
happens, she was actually born in
Copenhagen, albeit to Icelandic parents.

Also, speaking of the French language,
for a sign of the times last year at
Eurovision, see this perceptive piece from
Le Monde titled La chanson française in english

http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=1049465

"La France était représentée cette année à l'Eurovision avec une chanson... en anglais.
Les enfants de la mondialisation renoncent à l'écriture en français."

Mon dieu!
La France, can't live avec it,
can't live without it!

-----------------------------------
Les relations franco-américaines
devraient continuer à s'améliorer.
Thanks to Obama.